


Not ‘Just’ Anything

by hurryupsnufkin



Category: Moominvalley (Cartoon 2019), Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson
Genre: Bisexuality, Heteronormativity, Multi, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, just a whole lotta relationship stuff and realisations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 05:00:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20687888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hurryupsnufkin/pseuds/hurryupsnufkin
Summary: Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden have a much-needed talk.





	Not ‘Just’ Anything

**Author's Note:**

> I projected onto Moomintroll again lmao

It was an early spring day in Moominvalley, the kind that’s slightly cold and overcast but holds the exciting promise of warmer days ahead. Snorkmaiden and Moomintroll were down at the beach, picking out the prettiest seashells in what could be considered a date.

Snorkmaiden was wondering if Little My would appreciate a seashell necklace when she noticed her beau had suddenly gone quite still and quiet on the sand behind her. “Snorkmaiden,” he started slowly and unsurely.

She huffed out a quiet sigh. If he was playing the part of forlorn hero, she’d have to play the part of concerned girlfriend. The part she knew best. “What is it, my love?” She asked, turning her back to the sea to face him.

He shuffled his paws in the ground nervously and looked down at the basket of shells in his grip. “Don’t you... well... I mean, isn’t it tiring?”

Snorkmaiden furrowed her brows in confusion. “Isn’t what tiring? Picking shells? I thought you loved it!” She laughed and linked one of her arms in his. “Honestly, what are you like? My funny Moomintroll.”

“No, I mean- _that_. Calling each other pet names and- and- I don’t know, pretending to be just like mamma and pappa. Pretending to be something else. Pretending to be...”

“A couple?” Snorkmaiden finished softly and she felt Moomin stiffen in alarm.

“N-no, of course not, that’s not what I meant! I- it was silly, forget I said anything.” He forced out a chuckle.

Snorkmaiden suddenly felt very relieved. She let out a light chime of genuine laughter herself and plopped down on the sand, placing her basket to one side and patting the empty space on her other side with her paw. “Sit down, you silly thing. It’s about time we had a chat, don’t you think?”

Moomin looked worried but obliged, putting his basket on the other side of him, trapping himself in the conversation.

They watched the gentle lapping of the waves for a moment, Snorkmaiden feeling absolute calm, Moomin wishing they would swallow him up and take him far away.

He cleared his throat. “I’m so sorry about that, my sweet. I don’t know what came over me.” 

“No, you were absolutely right. No more ‘my sweet’ this or ‘my love’ that. It was getting on my nerves!” Her reply caused Moomin’s ears to straighten up and he stared at her in shock. She carried on: “And no more pretending.” She turned her head to look him in the eye. “Moomintroll, I think we should break up.” 

“I- really? Do you really mean that? But I thought-“

“Moomin, it’s okay. I know you don’t love me in that way.”

He blinked, pausing for a beat as he absorbed everything. “I wish I was as certain as you sound. I’m not so sure _what_ it feels like to love in that way.” He muttered, looking out at the horizon with his arms on his knees and his snout on his arms. The sky was grey and blue and so very white, but so very beautiful, in that way that makes you want to paint it.

Snorkmaiden smiled. “Oh, I’m sure you do. Now let’s think... someone who ‘makes your heart beat ten times faster when you meet’, or who ‘tells you the most wonderful stories’, or ‘plays his harmonica so beautifully the tune has been stuck in my head for days!’” She dramatically imitated him, holding a paw to her forehead for effect.

Moomin had raised his head and gawped at her, stunned. And suddenly a lot of things made a lot of sense, all at once. “Oh. Oh no.” He breathed.

“Your words, not mine.” She shrugged.

“Oh dear. They do sound awfully romantic when one hears them out loud.” He covered his cheeks with his paws in embarrassment. “And I said all of that on our dates! Oh, Snorkmaiden, forgive me, I’ve been so terrible! I didn’t even realise...”

“Trust you to not realise you’re in love with your best friend.” Her expression was a mixture of pity and amusement, amongst other things.

“I suppose I didn’t even think it was possible; I’ve been so used to the idea that you’re supposed to love best friends a certain way and love girlfriends a certain way that I just didn’t think... well, I just didn’t think.” He said pathetically.

“Something we can agree on, then!” Snorkmaiden teased and he shot her a look as she giggled. “What was it mamma said? You know, when Misabel visited with that Pimple? ‘Cats or dogs, all that matters is that you like something’? Or something along those lines.”

Moomintroll looked terribly confused. “But Snufkin’s not a dog, he’s a Snufkin.”

Snorkmaiden rolled her eyes. “It’s a metaphor! I just meant that we can’t control what or who we like but it doesn’t matter as long as we know that we like it. Or them. Argh, now I’m confused!” She threw her arms up in exasperation then let them drop into her lap.

There was a break in the conversation then as both gathered their thoughts to the score of the soothing waves. Moomintroll watched Snorkmaiden scowl out toward the ocean and he thought about just how beautiful she was. Her lovely fringe fluttered in the breeze, her eyes had the comforting warmth of chocolate and behind them he knew lay all of her cleverness and confidence that he admired so much. He realised that he _was_ attracted to her, perhaps not as much as when they first met, but he did not love her like that, not anymore. The idea of doing completely platonic things with her were much more appealing than romantic things, which felt more and more like a chore nowadays.

He looked back at the horizon again and thought of Snufkin, blushing at how quickly his heart swelled with adoration. Yes, he was very much attracted to him, too. He thought about doing romantic things with Snufkin and the adoration and excitement grew, and Moomintroll wondered how he could have been so blind to his own truth for all these years. _I should listen to mamma more carefully_, he thought, and remembered that time with the dragon when she had said something about being able to keep a secret if he wanted. He really should listen to mamma more.

And all this time he’d been leading Snorkmaiden on through it all, blind leading the sighted. He looked at her again. “I’m really very sorry.” He said, sincerity and sadness softening his voice.

“What?” She blinked, pulled out of the waters of her own inner monologue.

“For leading you on. For ignoring you all those times we were supposed to be enjoying each other’s company, and I was off enjoying the company of someone who wasn’t even there.” His voice thickened as tears started to fall from his eyes. It felt like a big pair of hands had wrapped themselves tightly around his stomach, making him feel sick with guilt as he finally imagined the pain he had put her through.

“Oh, Moomintroll, isn’t the one accepting the apology supposed to be the one crying?” She wiped a tear off his cheek, quite uselessly as the torrent kept falling. “But thank you. Apology accepted. And if it makes you feel any better, you big crybaby, I don’t think I love you in that way, either.”

Moomintroll sniffed. “Really?”

She nodded, looking down and tracing shapes in the sand. “I think I just wanted to feel wanted. To feel, I don’t know, validation. Someone to tell me how well I styled my hair or how witty that remark I made was. And we had started it so young, too, when a real romance really did seem possible.” She smiled sadly and there was a little ache in her chest for what could have been. Moomintroll, whose tears had stopped flowing now, mirrored her own smile and she lifted her head and her paw. “But I’ve realised - I don’t _need_ a boyfriend for that! I’ve got friends and family and... and myself.” She was still a bit unsure of that last part, but she’d get there one day.

“If you don’t mind me saying, Snorkmaiden, that was such a clever remark you just made!”

She laughed. “Why thank you, _friend_, though really all credit goes to Little My. She’s taught me a lot about self-love. Who’d have thought it - terrible Little My, teaching _me_ something valuable!” She laughed again, a little louder this time, and placed her paw on the handle of her basket. “There’s something about those mymble kids, eh?” 

Moomintroll felt that she meant something by that but wasn’t quite sure what, and decided it wasn’t that important at the moment. “So... just friends, then?”

“_Just_ friends!?” cried Snorkmaiden. “I’m not ‘just’ anything, thank you very much! _Best_ friends is much more suitable.”

Moomin smiled. “You’re right,” he stood up and held out a paw to her. “Best friends it is.”

Snorkmaiden graciously used his paw to help herself up, and when on her legs immediately enveloped her best friend in a big, warm, best friend hug.

Moomintroll soaked in the comfortingly familiar yet refreshingly different feeling for as long as he could before the Snork Maiden suddenly broke away from the embrace, gasping sharply.

“What? What is it!?” Moomin asked, alarmed.

“I just realised - teasing you about Snufkin is going to be _so_ much more fun than being jealous about it!” She clapped her paws together in devilish delight.

“Oh no,” groaned Moomin, picking up his basket. This was going to be a long walk home.

**Author's Note:**

> Moominvalley: *won’t break up Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden*
> 
> Me: guess I have to do everything myself huh :/


End file.
